Professors on hourly-paid contracts with the Lebanese University held a sit-in on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education headquarters in Beirut. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Professors on hourly-paid contracts with the Lebanese University held a sit-in Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education headquarters in Beirut, demanding "full-time part-timers" status, an intermediary between their current status and that of regular full-time employment, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The professors threatened to delay the upcoming academic year if their demands were not met.
One of the professors present at the sit-in, Hamed Hamed, said, "Because our first issue at this university is [obtaining] full-time [status], which is a natural right of ours, we call on [caretaker] Prime Minister Najib Mikati, caretaker Education and Higher Education Minister, Abbas Al-Halabi, the [Lebanese] University president, Bassam Badran, and all political and sectarian parties and blocs, to expedite the approval of the full-time status file,"
"Accordingly, we declare our inability to start the next academic year, before we obtain what guarantees us a decent living, which befits a professor and researcher, out of respect for ourselves above all else, our academic and social status, and our children and students," Hamed said.
On May 13 and March 5, the professors also staged sit-ins to call for the same demand. The March protest, led by the university's Committee of Contractual Hourly Teachers, included a week-long warning strike following two weeks of interrupted classes and exam grading.
The issue does not seem likely to be resolved soon.
The advancement of Lebanese University professors has been hampered since 2014 by questions of community balance.